Awful is good

Certainly. Here's a revised version of your story, focusing on handling the themes with care and responsibility:

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A man takes one last sip of whiskey. He gets in his car and drives to his favorite place, Glenwood Canyon. He arrives, parks his car, takes out a flashlight and a car registration from the glove box, and then unscrews his license plate. He throws his registration and license plate into the river as he walks to a particular spot he and his wife used to spend time at when she was still alive. It’s one of the highest points of the canyon and has an incredible view of the valley beneath it. He has come with the intention of ending his life.

The man stands at the edge of the canyon, thinking one last time about his life. He looks out at the massive, beautiful landscape, the night sky sprinkled with stars seamlessly converging with the stone of the canyon's edge as it dips down into the river beneath. He feels a combination of wonder and pain. As he's admiring the landscape, a woman's voice behind him yells, "Hey!"

Startled, the man almost falls but catches himself. He turns around to find a woman appearing out of the forest. She wears a long dress and has long, silvery straight hair. She's old, but there's a certain beauty about her. It's late and dark, and the man wonders why she’s here by herself. She approaches the man and says, "Hello."

Kind of confused and thrown off, the man says, "Hello" back. "What are you doing here so late by yourself?" he asks in a snarky way.

The woman responds with the same question. "What are you doing here so late by yourself?"

Thrown off again, the man says, "I don't know. I guess I just needed to clear my head. This is my favorite spot."

"You're awfully close to the edge of that cliff to be clearing your head," replies the woman. "Are you going to jump?"

"No, like I said, I’m just here to clear my head. I've had a long couple of days," says the man.

"Okay, well, have a good night," says the woman as she begins to walk away. This confuses the man. He had quickly constructed a fantasy in his head that this woman was some deity-type figure who appeared by fate to save him, to convince him not to jump, to change his mind about life. As the woman walks away, the man calls out, "Hey, wait! You never said why you’re here."

The woman turns around. "You never said why you're here," she replies.

"Yes, I did. I just told you," the man says with a nervous, guilty laugh.

The woman gets really close to the man, quickly moving from where she was right up into his face. "Why you're really here," she whispers.

The man, thrown off yet again, stutters. "I’m clearing my freaking head, okay!? Why don’t you believe me?"

The woman turns around and begins to walk away again. As she begins to walk further away, the man panics at the thought of the woman leaving without trying to save him. He yells out, "Okay, fine. I’m here to jump."

The woman turns around. "Pardon?" she asks.

"I’m here to jump. This life is awful, and I’m ready to die."

"Okay, there you go," the woman comes back to where the man is standing. "What’s so awful about it?" she asks.

"What’s not so awful about it?" replies the man. "It’s filled with ugliness and sadness. There’s tragedy, there’s conflict, there’s heartbreak. It’s endlessly difficult for no reason. Success is hard. There’s no obvious meaning to anything, even just the little things. The traffic, the cold weather, the Mondays, the way the grocery stores are lit, and the god-awful cashiers that always look at you like they’d be better off if you weren’t alive..." the man said in almost one breath.

"Well, what life would you not want to jump from?" the woman asks in a calm, curious tone.

"A life without all that, obviously," says the man. "A life filled with only beauty, happiness, love, and peace. A life that’s easy and fun all the time. One where there’s apparent meaning to stuff and we actually know what’s going on and why we’re here and what the point is. One with no heartbreak, no tragedy. No conflict. No hardship. No mean grocery store cashiers, no traffic. No Mondays, no pain." Imagining that kind of life, the man smiled.

"Hmm," says the woman. "Everything would be perfect, and I would never want to leave that life," says the man.

The man and the woman stare at each other for a second. It feels like a few. "So who are you? You have to tell me why you’re here now," the man agitatedly asks again.

The woman moves closer to him. "I'm who you hoped I was," she says.

Confused, the man backpedals a little bit, completely forgetting where he’s standing. "What do you mean?" he asks.

The woman leans in to answer and gently touches the man’s shoulder. He falls backwards off the cliff. The man wakes up in his bedroom; it’s a normal Tuesday morning. He thinks about how horrible the nightmare he just had was. But like most dreams, he quickly forgets and moves on. He gets out of bed and gets ready. He gets dressed, eats breakfast, and leaves his house. The sky is bright pink and purple with a sunny glow that illuminates the whole world. The grass is richly green and smells like the first spring to ever take place in the universe. The birds harmonize together perfectly. Every person is smiling cheek to cheek as if their faces are pinned in such a position. The man is entirely happy. He has no sense of sadness. Everything is beautiful with no sight of ugliness. The world has no conflict. Everyone loves each other equally. There’s no heartbreak, no hardship. No bad days. No traffic. No mean grocery store cashiers. Life is easy and smooth and fun. The meaning of life and the nature of reality are clear, and everyone knows exactly what’s going on. It’s completely and entirely perfect.

A year or so goes by. The man is at home. He takes one last sip of water. He gets in his car and drives to Glenwood Canyon. It’s not too far from where he lives. He parks his car, takes out a flashlight and the car registration from the glove box, and then unscrews his license plate. He throws his registration and license plate into the river as he walks to a spot that’s one of the highest points of the canyon. He has come to end his life again. He stands at the edge of the canyon, thinking about his life one last time. He looks out at the massive, beautiful landscape, the night sky sprinkled with stars seamlessly converging with the stone of the canyon's edge as it dips down into the river beneath. He feels nothing. He’s about to jump when a woman’s voice from behind him yells, "Hey!"

Startled, the man almost falls but catches himself. He turns around to find a woman appearing out of the forest. This woman’s presence is not interesting or perplexing to the man. She approaches the man and says, "Hello," and asks him what he’s doing.

"I’m going to jump," says the man.

"Why?" asks the woman.

"It’s a waste being alive, isn’t it? There’s nothing to do. Everything is easy and boring. I want to feel, but there’s nothing to feel," answers the man.

"Well, what life would you not want to jump from?" asks the woman.

"A life that’s interesting and exciting and actually has feeling, obviously," replies the man.

"Well, what makes a life that way?" asks the woman.

"I don’t know, one where some stuff is beautiful, but not everything. Or perhaps everything is beautiful, but at least you don’t always notice it so you can actually appreciate it when you do. A life where you’re happy some of the time, but not all the time, and some of the time you actually feel really sad, so you can tell the difference. One where everyone doesn’t love each other and some people aren’t really that nice at all. So you can actually feel special about certain people. One where bad stuff happens once in a while. One where things are actually kind of hard, and finding success and meaning requires some thought, effort, and creativity, so it actually feels important when you find it. One where nothing is ever perfect, but some stuff can get really close if you try hard enough. I would never want to leave that life. Doesn’t it sound wonderful?" asks the man.

"Yes," says the woman. "It does."

The man turns around to look at the landscape over the cliff and tries to imagine a life like that. The woman leans in and gently touches his back. He feels a strange warmth and calm wash over him.

"I hope you see it this time," she whispers softly.